It can scarcely also be doubted in view of this feeling that the
wearing of both gold and silver in ornaments is considered to have
a protective magical effect, like that attributed to charms and
amulets. And the suggestion has been made that this was the object
with which all ornaments were originally worn. Professor Robertson
Smith remarks: [648] "Jewels, too, such as women wore in the sanctuary,
had a sacred character; the Syriac word for an earring is _c' dasha_,
'the holy thing,' and generally speaking, jewels serve as amulets. As
such they are mainly worn to protect the chief organs of action (the
hands and feet), but especially the orifices of the body, as earrings;
nose-rings hanging over the mouth; jewels on the forehead hanging down
and protecting the eyes." The precious metals, as has been seen, are
usually sacred among primitive people, and when made into ornaments
they have the same sanctity and protective virtue as jewels. The
subject has been treated [649] with great fullness of detail by
Sir J. Campbell, and the different ornaments worn by Hindu women of
the Central Provinces point to the same conclusion. The _bindia_ or
head ornament of a Maratha Brahman woman consists of two chains of
silver or gold and in the centre an image of a cobra erect. This is
Shesh-Nag, the sacred snake, who spreads his hood over all the _lingas_
of Mahadeo and is placed on the woman's head to guard her in the same
way. The Kurmis and other castes do not have Shesh-Nag, but instead
the centre of the _bindia_ consists of an ornament known as _bija_,
which represents the custard-apple, the sacred fruit of Sita. The
_nathni_ or nose-ring, which was formerly confined to high-caste
women, represents the sun and moon. The large hoop circle is the
sun, and underneath in the part below the nose is a small segment,
which is the crescent moon and is hidden when the ornament is in
wear. On the front side of this are red stones, representing the
sun, and on the underside white ones for the moon. The _nathni_
has some mysterious connection with a woman's virtue, and to take
off her nose-ring--_nathni utdarna_--signifies to dishonour a woman
(Platts). In northern India women wear the nose-ring very large and
sometimes cover it with a piece of cloth to guard it from view or keep
it in _parda_. It is possible that the practice of Hindu husbands of
cutting off the nose of a wife detected in adultery has some similar
association, and is partly intended to prevent her from again wearing a
nose-ring. The toe ornament of a high-caste woman is called _bichhia_
and it represents a scorpion (_bichhu_). A ring on the big toe stands
for the scorpion's head, a silver chain across the foot ending in
another ring on the little toe is his body, and three rings with
high projecting knobs on the middle toes are the joints of his tail
folded back. It is of course supposed that the ornament protects the
feet from scorpion bites. These three ornaments, the _bindia_, the
_nathni_ and the _bichhia_, must form part of the Sohag or wedding
dowry of every high-caste Hindu girl in the northern Districts,
and she cannot be married without them. But if the family is poor
a _laong_ or gold stud to be worn in the nose may be substituted
for the nose-ring. This stud, as its name indicates, is in the form
of a clove, which is sacred food and is eaten on fast-days. Burning
cloves are often used to brand children for cold; a fresh one being
employed for each mark. A widow may not wear any of these ornaments;
she is always impure, being perpetually haunted by the ghost of her
dead husband, and they could thus be of no advantage to her; while,
on the other hand, her wearing them would probably be considered a
kind of sacrilege or pollution of the holy ornaments.